Signs of economic recovery in Vallejo, Solano County

Great grandmother, Mary Cook, left and grandmother Terri Fahey show their grandaughter Audrianna a Caillou doll inside the new Toys R Us/ Babies R Us store in Vallejo. The store is holding a official grand opening Today and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

Economic recovery began "moving like a glacier toward Solano County" at the beginning of the year, and the trend has continued.

In January, the Times-Herald reported an economic think tank predicted the recovery to remain anemic through 2013, but to pick up speed in 2014.

The Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific predicted "continued housing market weakness, frail export demand and shrinking government spending," would prevent a robust recovery. And also in January, it was reported that Solano County homeowners had lost about half their properties' value since the housing bubble burst.

But signs of improvement continued cropping up locally in 2012.

By mid-year, for instance, foreclosures here started slowing and home prices began rising, albeit less sharply than in much of the rest of the Bay Area.

By May, the economic think tank was saying Solano County had improved economically and predicted it would continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

Signs of an economic recovery could be seen in the additions to the retail landscape of a Toys R Us Babies R Us store and an Anna's Linens store, though Vallejo's Rasputin music moved to the Solano Mall in December and the Hostess Bakery Outlett closed for good after nearly 30 years.

The owners of the Vallejo Corners shopping center where Rasputin was for 11 years, says a Rainbow Apparel store will move into the space by summer.

Unemployment, meanwhile, fell most months of the year in Solano and Napa counties, reaching 9.3 percent in Solano, by September and holding steady. In Napa, the rate fell to 6.9 percent.

Vallejo and American Canyon continued having their respective county's highest unemployment rate, both slightly above 11 percent by October, the most recent figures available.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, one of Vallejo's most consistent economic drivers, saw the debut of its first major thrill coaster in a decade with SUPERMAN Ultimate Flight, which features the tallest inversion west of the Mississippi River. The coaster had some early glitches, but those seem to have been ironed out.

May 2012 marked the 25th anniversary of the Vallejo Convention and Visitors Bureau, which was born out of what was then called Marine World's coming to town.

In a matter that will follow the city into the new year, a jury trial date was set late this year in the ongoing battle between Vallejo and Triad Downtown, Vallejo, LLC, its former downtown developer. The court date is set for Sept. 10, when the city will argue that Triad breached its contract with the city when it failed to deliver the development it promised, and Triad will counter that there's a relief valve in the contact's language letting it off the hook if the economy tanks, as it did several years ago.